Rockefeller Group JV Wraps $60M Sale of New Jersey Asset

400 Ridge Road. Image courtesy of Rockefeller Group

In a $59.5 million deal, IT solutions provider SHI International has purchased a 396,750-square-foot building within the Rockefeller Group Logistics Center in Piscataway, N.J. The seller, a joint venture between Rockefeller Group and PCCP LLC, specifically developed the property at 400 Ridge Road for an IT tenant. The transaction marks the fourth building sale at the Piscataway site over the past year. One remaining structure totaling 200,000 square feet is currently under construction.

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SHI has acquired the asset to expand its operations in New Jersey. The property features 36-foot clear ceiling heights, an 8,000-amp primary service connection with a full-building backup generator, a chiller plant for tenant data and software equipment, and a steel platform mezzanine for special equipment setups. Other features include an increased roof load that allows for a solar rooftop application.

The building was completed in phases between the summer and fall of 2019, with SHI in mind, according to Heath Abramsohn, Rockefeller’s vice president & regional director for the New Jersey and Pennsylvania region. “We structured a deal on this building prior to construction of the project,” Abramsohn told Commercial Property Executive. “Essentially, the SHI building was a build-to-suit and we were able to accommodate SHI’s technological needs during construction.”

Back in 2016, SHI opened a 300,000-square-foot integration center in Piscataway, which doubled their operational capacity. The new building within the Rockefeller Group Logistics Center will allow the company to expand its ability to deliver advanced data center solutions and power more than 150 racks simultaneously. Cushman & Wakefield’s Stan Danzig, Jules Nissim and Marc Petrella represented the seller in the deal, while the buyer was represented by Shawn Straka.

Leasing up the logistics center

While the fourth building was specifically designed for an IT tenant, the first three buildings of the 2.1 million-square-foot Rockefeller Group Logistics Center were designed for more traditional industrial tenants. In total, the logistics park will include five buildings ranging in size from 197,200 to 725,830 square feet.

The first building totaling 725,830 square feet was leased to Best Buy during construction, while the second building spanning 311,000 square feet was split roughly in half between two tenants, the cooling and heating company Fujitsu General and the office furniture manufacturer Humanscale. In April, these two buildings were sold to DWS Group. Abramsohn told CPE that the third building totaling 469,600 square feet was sold to Kiss Products for $65.7 million in July.

Rockefeller has one last building to go, an approximately 200,000-square-foot building that will suit more traditional warehouse and distribution needs, Abramsohn told CPE. He added that the fifth building will be completed and leased to a 3PL tenant that they’ll announce later this month.